RHETORIC NOTESPre-AP To AP English

Junior Year: AP English

Language Exam: 3 college credits

Rhetoric/Argument/Persuasion

Senior Year: AP English

Literature Exam: 3 college credits

Uses various excerpts from readings throughout high school

Rhetoric“rhetor” Greek persona of

communicator

Art of finding and analyzing all the choices involving language that a writer, speaker, reader, or listener might make in a situation so that the text becomes meaningful, purposeful, and effective for readers or listeners.

Art of communication = art of persuasion.

Where is Rhetoric found? Speeches Cartoons Advertisements Letters Poetry Prose Essays Magazine and newspaper articles on

controversial issues

Early History Aristotle (384-322 BCE)

1. Greek Philosopher = wrote on logic, natural sciences, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and rhetoric (many followers and brought the ideas to the western world)

2. Defined rhetoric as the ability to see; persuasion

3. Believed rhetoric created community and good will.

4. Create the basic principles for Rhetoric (ethos, pathos, logos).

Rhetorical Triangle

AUDIENCE

Subject/CONTEXT

WRITER (communicator)

Intention

AppealsAppeal Definition Effect

LogosGreek for “word”Refers to consistency of the message-- the clarity of the claim, the logic of its reasons, and the effectiveness of its supporting evidence

Appeals to the audience’s logic, sense of reasoning using facts, statistics, and evidence

EthosGreek for “character”Refers to the trustworthiness or credibility of the writer or speakerConveyed through tone and style

Appeals to the audience’s ethics, morals, prudence

Pathos

Greek for “suffering” or “experience”Refers to both the emotional and imaginative impact of the message on the audience

Appeals to the audience’s emotions and ability to identify with the writer’s point of view; draws upon the audience’s feelings and sentimentalityPages 49 - 50

Ethos

LOGOS

PATHOS

Watch the Commercial Which rhetorical appeal the commercial is

targeting? Explain why.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owGykVbfgUE&feature=g-hist

Rhetorical DevicesVocabulary

Strategies that Strengthen any Argument/Persuasion

Draw TableDevice Definition Your Own Example

Rhetorical Questions

RHETORICAL QUESTION

Question that is not answered by the writer, because the answer is obvious or is just

yes or no. It is used for effect, or provocation, or for drawing

a conclusionary statement from the facts at hand.

Winston Churchill:

“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills.”

ANAPHORARepetition of the same word or

words at the beginning of successive phrases.

Antithesis

“One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

ANTITHESISClear, contrasting relationship

between 2 ideas by joining them together or juxtaposing them,

often in parallel structure.

Can you guess device used by black knight?

Euphemism/Understatement

Euphemism The act or an example of substituting a

mild, indirect, or vague term for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive.

CHIASMUS

CHIASMUSMirror image/opposites

Overstatement

OVERSTATEMENT/HYPERBOLE

Making something sound worse than it is

“going to the dentist is the worst thing ever”

Diction

DICTIONEx. Colgate toothpaste is

dynamite.Ex. Mary is a Queen.

Can you guess the two devices used in this video?

Allusion

Allusion An expression designed to

call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly; an indirect or passing reference

RepetitionRepetitionRepetition

How does this painting make YOU feel?

MOODMood is a state of mind or

emotion

How is the person in the clip coming across to THE AUDIENCE?

Tone Manner in which an author expresses

his/her attitude.

Metaphor

Simile

Watch clip and try and guess the next device.

Ambiguity

AMBIGUITYDoubtfulness or uncertainty as regards to an interpretation.

Acknowledgement of personal flaws or flaws to a proposal; speaker centered.

Can you guess the device used in this ad?

PARADOXA seemingly contradictory

statement that may nonetheless be true.

Ex. When the hurlyburly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won

(Macbeth I.i.1).

Oxymoron

OXYMORONParadox reduced to 2 words, to

show a strong relationship.

Parallelism They are laughing at me, not with me."

(Bart Simpson, The Simpsons)

"Buy a bucket of chicken and have a barrel of fun."(slogan of Kentucky Fried Chicken)

"Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal."(T.S. Eliot)

"I don’t want to live on in my work. I want to live on in my apartment."(Woody Allen)

PARALLELISMSimilarity of structure in a pair or series of related words, phrases,

or clauses. Also called parallel structure.

Asyndeton

“You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey’s uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried.” (Forest Gump)

Examples of Asyndeton “The dove, splashed, floated, splashed,

swam, snorted.”

“He was a bag of bones, a floppy doll, a broken stick, an maniac.”

ASYNDETONA style that omits conjunctions

between words, phrases, or clauses.

Polysyndeton “We lived and laughed and loved and

left” (James Joyce, Finnegans Wake)

“Oh my piglets, we are the origins of war-not history’s forces, nor ideas, nor kinds of government, nor causes, nor religions” (Katherine Hepburn, in The Lion in Winter)

POLYSYNDETONA style that employs many conjunctions (opposite of

asyndeton)

Anticipate An Objective Addressing a possible protest Before the

Opposition Can Raise It.

Ex. Lawyers

Reduce to the Absurd Statement showing the utter foolishness

of another statement.

Ex.1. Rocks have weight, otherwise we would

see them floating in the air.

2. There is no smallest positive rational number, because if there were, it could be divided by two to get a smaller one

Name the Device in the Video

Alliteration Alliteration occurs when a series of words

in a row (or close to a row) have the same first consonant sound.

For example, “She sells sea-shells down by the sea-shore”

or “Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled Peppers”

ANADIPLOSIS “I am Sam, Sam I am” – Dr. Seuss "They call for you: the general who

became a slave ; the slave who became a gladiator; the gladiator who defied an Emperor" - Joaquin Phoenix (from the movie Gladiator )

ANADIPLOSIS A rhetorical device that repeats one or

several words that end one clause or sentence and begin another.

What device is the cowardly lion using?

Hypophora "When the enemy struck on that

June day of 1950, what did America do? It did what it always has done in all its times of peril. It appealed to the heroism of its youth" - Dwight D. Eisenhower

Hypophora Raise a question and then immediately

answer it.